Covid and AFib Connection?

I’ve had benign, postural ectopic beats since my twenties. Not a problem. After my 5th covid shot they got so bad my doctor had me wear a ZIO patch for two weeks. It showed 265 episodes of SVTs and I don’t remember how many PACs. Right after that I had my first episode of Afib. I had two more shortly after. This was just shocking to me. I have lived a clean, heart healthy life. I’m fit, I exercised daily, I have none of the typical afib triggers. Now I’ve had a double ablation and I’m on a blood thinner. I still can’t believe it. I took an ekg from my watch 12 hours after my 6th shot and showed it to my EP. He said “yeah, we’re seeing a lot of this post covid vaccine heart issues.” So, the covid infection is well documented to cause afib and other cardiovascular problems. Now the vaccine is being studied and reveals that it too can cause afib and other arrhythmias so basically we’re doomed if we do and doomed if we don’t. I’m 71, I can’t afford to get covid. But I’m questioning continuing to get the vaccine. Sigh….

I have had infrequent (once a year) but dramatic afib (heart rate close to 200) which lands me in ER/hospital. But in-between, no arrhythmias.

I recently had COVID and had to stop Paxlovid after 4 doses (two days), due to "supravenricular ectopy" and some afib. Oddly, I only had arrythmias when I was up, not in bed.

I found an FDA warning that Paxlovid can affect the electrical system of the heart. ER docs blamed my arrhythmias on COVID itself but the following day, my PCP agreed with stopping it.

I had three days of feeling well w/no heart issues or symptoms, then whammo, rebound and spent a night in the hospital on the third day after rebound started, with high temp. Oddly the same thing happened: ectopy/PVC's whenever I got up out of bed.

They wanted to give me high dose steroids which I declined after helpful discussion with the hospitalist. I also had trouble using albuterol, which raised heart rate and increased risk of afib.

I had a vaccine in early October, 5 weeks before I got COVID. Wearing a KN95 or N95 mask and continuing to stay relatively isolated for the colder months for fear of getting viruses. COVID has been around for 4 years and is truly life-changing for those of us who remain vulnerable. I was still masking in stores and took a chance on one small art class unmasked. Before holiday gatherings and really cold weather. The whole class got COVID from one student!

I, too, had been a lifelong runner and was active, although retired, when I had my first AF episode. In fact, my first episode happened at about the 8 km point in a 10 km maintenance run. This was in 2017, well before COVID. I'm not prepared to say your suspicions aren't warranted about the vaccine and pericarditis or arrhythmias (there is grudging acceptance, finally, for example, by the British National Health Service, that there are unaccounted for excess deaths in Great Britain that must be due to COVID vaccines as the only other variable not accounted for). But be very careful to not fall into the post hoc, ergo propter hoc fallacy. Just because two events share the same time, or follow closely to one another, doesn't necessarily mean they are causally related.

I agree. And I know that the mention of the word “COVID” puts people’s teeth on edge. In fact there are forums where you can’t say the word without getting thrown off. I’m not an anti vaxxer. I’ve had 6 covid shots. However, if you simply google covid vaccine and afib you will now find studies showing the connection. They just don’t yet understand the mechanism. It happened to me and my EP confirmed that they are seeing a lot of it. I’m being treated at a very large teaching hospital so the numbers will be higher than a small community hospital.

I’m not permitted to post links to medical reviews here. But you can find them with a quick internet search.

The important takeaway is a risk analysis needs to be made between doctor and patient. For me the risk of COVID infection outweighed other considerations so I’m vaccinated. But I will have to consider carefully before I get a 7th. I have the ekg taken 12 hours after my 6th shot. I don’t want to repeat that now that I’ve been through double ablation.

There is a PhD professor of nursing who has a YouTube channel by the name of John Campell, and his channel uses that name. He has been posting a vlog every day since COVID, but I think he was active previously. He is intensely interested in COVID and the vaccines, and it was he who pointed out the the National Health Service in Great Britain was at the point where they had no other answers except that they did admit to quite a whack of excess deaths. John made the observation in early 2021, when the vaccines became widely available, that the rush to vaccinate meant that those doing the injections were taking shortcuts with protocols. One key protocol when injecting is to 'aspirate' the apparatus by withdrawing the plunger AFTER the needle pierces and is in place. This will show if a blood vessel has been pierced. John pointed out that a vaccine should never be administered directly into a blood vessel because of the risk of myocarditis and pericarditis. I honestly can't recall a single time any of my six were aspirated...all were inserted and plunged.

I had the same uncertainty. I opted to get the Novavax vaccine which is formulated in a way that is similar to flu vaccines which I tolerate much better than mRNA vaccines.